Dave Lewis figured it might be a little uncomfortable replacing Scotty Bowman behind the Cup champions' bench. He had no idea it would be excruciating.

"The pain!" Lewis says. "I was bent over, sweating. It started at 7 a.m., but by 2 p.m. I was fine and out of the hospital."

This wasn't an anxiety attack (not having captain Steve Yzerman, out until midseason after knee surgery, will give you that). Lewis was describing passing a kidney stone in the final week of training camp: "When I was 20, playing for the Islanders, I took a slap shot point-blank to the face. That was like a fingernail scratch compared to the kidney stone."

Anybody who's ever had one wants the subject changed right now. So, Dave, what's it feel like replacing a nine-time Cup-winning coach in a place called Hockeytown, especially when you're going into the season without your Hall of Fame leader? Ouch!

At least Lewis knows his team. He spent the past nine seasons (scoring a Stanley Cup hat trick) as the "good cop" assistant under "bad cop" Bowman. Will he need a personality transplant to be effective? "Doesn't have to," insists Brett Hull. "Dave's a guy's guy."

He's also a smart guy, too smart to play "Scotty Jr." Consider his inaugural address to his troops: "I have an open-door policy. If you've got something to say -- a gripe, an idea -- let me hear from you. I demand respect, but you're gonna get it back, too."

Job No. 1 was to orchestrate a smooth transition. And, says Hull, the new boss succeeded: "It's unbelievable. You wouldn't know anything's different. Except, obviously, he's got a little different personality than Scotty."

Try night-and-day different. As inscrutable as Bowman was, that's how open and direct Lewis is. But after almost a decade at the foot of the master, he's as ready as he'll ever be for the top job. And he's already passed his first test in Advanced Media Scrutiny -- not to mention that dreaded kidney stone. "I look at it this way," says the happy outpatient. "This job can't be any tougher than that."

He's a rookie, remember.

This article appears in the October 28 issue of ESPN The Magazine.